Jacques Martin has to go

Midland Mirror

MIDLAND – The Montreal Canadiens are off to their worst start in more than 70 years. Only the Columbus Blue Jackets are doing worse. Something has to give.
Fingers are being pointed at goaltender Carey Price, but he is not the problem. Underachieving players? Sure, there are players who can be a lot better. Young stud P.K. Subban is trying to do too much, Josh Gorges is coming off a serious knee injury, and the rest of the very young defence – Yannick Weber, Raphael Diaz and Alexei Emelin – also struggling.
When top blue-liner Andrei Markov returns, he will make a difference, but who knows when that is going to be?
Lately, the Habs have let good young coaches just walk away and get coaching jobs elsewhere. Guy Boucher – coach of the Tampa Bay Lightning and formerly bench boss of the Hamilton Bulldogs, Montreal’s AHL affiliate – has taken the Lightning from doormats to Stanley Cup contenders. Yes, he has talent like Steven Stamkos, Martin St. Louis and Vincent Lecavalier to work with, but he obviously has something to do with their success.
This past summer, the Habs let assistant coach Kirk Muller walk away, to the outrage of many fans who believe he was the true brains behind the whole operation. I am one of those outraged fans. Muller was the buffer between the players and coach, and he was always the guy talking to the players and drawing up plays, something I have not seen Martin do.
The team is rife with offensive talents like Mike Cammalleri and Brian Gionta, but Martin insists on a pure defensive system that allows Montreal to sit back and capitalize on the other team’s mistakes. Luckily, some of the young talents on the team like Lars Eller, Max Pacioretty and David Desharnais have played well of late; their development is crucial to the team.
Martin lacks emotion behind the bench, and there appears to be a disconnect between him and his players. There is some strange expectation that the Habs must have a French-speaking coach, but, if you ask me and many other Habs fans, I just want a coach who can connect with his players, get the best out of them and play a system with strong defence while allowing the players to showcase their offensive talents, something Jacques Martin has trouble doing.